Forget The World
by Cari-Chan The Otaku
Summary: Allen Walker is struggling. He's known as the school freak and is harassed by his peers. Lavi Bookman is popular. He has dashing looks and a great personality. So what happens when you put these two together? An unlikely friendship, tons of judgmental peers, and maybe a little bit of romance along the way. Human/High School/Modern Times!AU and eventual Laven.
1. First Meeting

**A/N: Hello everyone! I have a few things to say before you start to read.**

**First of all, thank you for clicking onto the link to read this story. This is my first ever fanfiction and I appreciated that you are taking the time to read it.**

**Secondly, my updates will range anywhere from a week to about a month. If I'm later than a month, spam the crap out of me.**

**Third, this is a modern day/human AU of D. Gray-Man. That means no Akuma. If you were looking for a fic with an epic Exorcist fight scene, then you clicked the wrong link.**

**Finally, this is a Laven fic. That means it is Lavi x Allen. If you don't like Laven or you are simply a homophobe, then you probably shouldn't read this. Just a fair warning.**

**So now that I've finished my incredibly long Author's Note, on with the story!**

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Allen Walker liked a lot of things.

He liked helping others, making people smile, eating, reading, doing exercises, watching humorous television shows (though he preferred anime), playing the piano, and his golden pet named Timcanpy. And that was only the tip of the iceberg.

Allen smiled slightly to himself as he pulled a shirt over his head. Yes, there were many things in life that he enjoyed. The fifteen-year-old boy walked to the bathroom to further prepare for the day.

It wasn't until Allen had entered the bathroom and stared into the mirror that he was reminded of the many things that he hated.

He hated the ugly scar that ran across his face with the pentagram above his eye that made him look like a Satanist, his bleach white hair, and the deformed skin of his left arm. He hated the cold metallic color of his eyes, the fact that he was far too short, and the knowledge that no one would try to be his friend. Who in their right mind would want to talk to such… such a freak?

Allen stared at his reflection for a moment longer before he sighed to himself. It wasn't like he could do anything to change the way he looked. If he could, then he would. Allen would do anything to be normal. The second week of school was starting today and the freshman already had a reputation around school as the "Cursed Clown" due to his appearance. The students hadn't spared him one rude remark or insult. It wasn't something that Allen cared for. Not at all.

Allen sighed again before he roughly combed his fingers through his snow-white hair. When he deemed it acceptable, the teen quickly brushed his teeth before he reached down into the cabinets. His left hand soon emerged, a bottle of concealer in its grasp.

Carefully putting the skin colored liquid on his fingertips, Allen started to place it onto his scar. The coolness of the makeup against his skin no longer surprised him so he didn't bother to cringe. The concealer wouldn't be able to completely hide the scar, Allen knew that, but it would work well enough for his purposes.

After carefully returning everything to its place, Allen made the short trip back to his room and slipped a black hoodie on over his shirt. It was supposed to be a relatively nice fall day, but Allen wasn't putting on the hoodie to shelter from the cold. No, the garment was being used for a different reason.

Allen pulled the almost ridiculously oversized hood up and draped it over the top of his head. It made looking in the upper part of his sight range a bit difficult, but the hood almost completely hid his face. The shadow of it would prevent anyone from actually seeing his disturbing features.

Shoulders now slumped, Allen produced two white gloves from the nightstand's drawer and slid them onto both of his hands. Although he only needed to cover up his left arm/hand, having just one glove would probably draw more attention than a matching pair.

Allen rummaged around his room some more until he was certain that he had everything he would need for the day, plus a few other items. Nothing much, just homework from over the weekend, back up concealer, his pencil pouch, some disinfectant, and a wrap of gauze. Just in case he got beaten up (which was incredibly likely to happen) or if his makeup started to come off (which was also extremely probable).

Feeling somewhat defeated now, Allen hoisted his backpack over his shoulder and slumped out of the house. It was going to be another long day.

.:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:.

"See ya Gramps!" Lavi called over his shoulder to the old man as he raced out of the car.

"Ungrateful brat, at least say thank you!" Bookman shouted as the redhead reached the school courtyard. Really, the idiot had completely missed first period and he wouldn't have made it anytime before lunch if Bookman had not woken him up and driven him to school. Oh well, being a guardian never really was a job that warranted much gratitude.

Lavi pointedly ignored his grandfather's voice as he continued to sprint across the sidewalk leading up to the school's entrance. The teen finally slowed his pace to a halt when he reached the front steps of the building. He couldn't help the smile that seeped onto his face as he stood there. Once he stepped through those doors, his junior year of high school would officially start. After this, he would only have one more year of high school to attend until he would graduate and be forced to face the real world.

Giving one last look over the outside of the school, Lavi stepped through the main doors and headed into the main office.

"Hey Reever!" Lavi greeted the school secretary with a huge grin. "What's up man? How was your summer?"

Reever looked up from whatever paper he was scribbling notes onto. "Lavi? Good to see you. Aren't you a bit late?"

"I guess I am," Lavi simply laughed the question off, "Me and Gramps just got back from our vacation yesterday and I'm still dead because of the jetlag." Almost as if to emphasize his point, the redhead let out a huge yawn and stretched his arms over his head.

"Ah, of course. And how was your vacation?"

"Awesome, duh!" Lavi practically yelled. "The only problem is that I had to miss the first week of school and all, which totally blows. But you already knew that."

Reever nodded. "Yes. Where did you go again? China?"

Lavi threw his head back and laughed. "You're getting me mixed up with Lenalee and Komui! Nah, me and the panda went to India. It was kinda one of his extended business trips and I tagged along because he didn't trust me to keep the house from burning down for a month. It was still really awesome."

Reever let out a small chuckle towards the end of the junior's little speech, "right, right." The blonde then bent down and shuffled through a few papers. He straightened back up when he found the one that he was looking for. "This is your schedule for the year," the secretary explained as he handed the paper to Lavi. "I would normally offer you a map, but I'm sure that you know your way around the school by now."

"Yup!" Lavi chirped happily as he accepted his schedule from Reever. "Thanks man."

Reever shrugged. "Just doing my job," was his only reply as he went to type something into his computer. Almost as of an afterthought, he added, "you might want to get to class soon. Second period started about fifteen minutes ago."

"Oh crap!" Lavi's smile fell off his face and his green eye widened. "Thanks again Reever, I'll see you around!" Lavi then bolted out of the main office and dashed through the hallways.

When the redhead realized that he had no idea where he was going. Lavi skidded to a halt and glanced over his schedule. He had missed math for first period (thank god) and second period was… English.

Lavi threw his head back and groaned. He had never liked English. There were too many rules about grammar and format and conjunctions and far too many exceptions to all of those complicated rules. He knew how to spell and write a halfway decent research paper. What else did he need to know? They had search engines for all those elusive rules!

Whatever. It wasn't like Lavi could remove the class from his schedule. He needed four years of English to graduate and there was no way in hell that the redhead would sacrifice his summer break to get rid of the stupid class.

Moving at a slower pace now, Lavi made his way to the dreaded classroom. English was his only class that wasn't advanced or AP or Honors or whatever other term meant the he was ahead of the average population. Sure, he didn't like math or science, but at least those subjects made _sense_.

When Lavi looked up again, he realized that he was in front of the dreaded room with the dreaded door that would lead him into the dreaded class with the dreaded subject that was probably being taught by a dreaded teacher. All in all, things were not looking good for the junior right now.

After a deep breath, Lavi pushed the door to the classroom open and stepped inside.

The students inside of the class seemed normal enough, thank god. Alas, there was no one that Lavi recognized.

"And who might you be?" Lavi turned to face the front of the classroom to face, who he thought to be, the teacher. The man had long, white hair and a bushy mustache of the same complexion.

"The name's Lavi, Lavi Bookman," Lavi gave his signature smile and glanced over to see several girls were practically swooning. That was to be expected, though, since he was the most popular boy at school. "I just came back to school from an extended vacation and I was told to come to second period. So, here I am."

One or two students quietly snickered at the last comment.

"Alright then, Mr. Bookman," the teacher seemed unfazed by Lavi's charm, "my name is Mr. Yeegar and I will be your English teacher. Take a seat so that we can continue the lesson, please."

Lavi flashed Mr. Yeegar a smile. The man seemed pretty nice (sans the fact that he taught English) so Lavi wouldn't do anything too horrible in his class. The redhead then turned to face the small sea of students and desks. The entire classroom was pretty packed. The only empty seat was the one next to some emo kid with a black hoodie in the back of the classroom. Lavi's smile dropped as he went to the desk. Even if the teacher seemed nice, the redhead would have to stay next to some weirdo for the entire period.

Screw English. Just screw it.

Lavi slung his backpack to the floor and sat in the plastic chair adjacent to the emo/weirdo kid. Lavi couldn't see anything but the boy's (was the student even male?) mouth and chin, but the junior could see the slight shift of the emo's head towards him. The kid was probably looking at him. Lavi knew that, even if he couldn't see the student's eyes.

Mr. Yeegar started to say something about taking out an assignment and all of the students did just that. Except Lavi, of course, who had no idea what was going on.

Almost as if sensing the redhead's distress, Mr. Yeegar looked up at the junior. "Lavi, why don't you look off of Allen's paper for now. I will catch you up to speed during lunch today."

Well, that worked. Now who was Allen?

Shifting to his right caught Lavi's attention as the emo scooted his chair over to Lavi's desk and placed a small packet of papers onto the edge of the desk. Okay, so apparently Allen was the creepy emo kid that sat next to him.

Mr. Yeegar started talking but Lavi ignored him in favor of looking over this Allen. He had a hoodie that was probably one or two sizes too big on him and his jean pants were loose, but at least those fit him well. What Lavi thought was really odd was the fact that Allen was wearing a pair of white gloves. Who the hell wore gloves? The kid looked like he was getting ready to a ball. Well, not really, but still.

Lavi turned his gaze from the other student and glanced over the paper that Allen had put on his desk. He had no idea what was going on. Well, he supposed since he didn't know anything, he could probably get Allen to tell him and then just leave it at that.

Forcing a radiant smile onto his face, Lavi leaned in towards Allen. "Hey, can you maybe, I don't know, tell me what's going on?"

Whenever Lavi did this, the person on the receiving end of his attention would melt into a puddle, blush and sputter out nonsense, or smile back. All Allen did was shrug and continue to stare at the paper.

At this, Lavi frowned but remembered himself and put a pout on his face. "Don't be mean. I just wanna know what's going on."

Allen still ignored him. Lavi gritted his teeth. Why couldn't the kid just answer him already? Lavi went to place his hand on Allen's left shoulder, "Look—"

As soon as Lavi's hand made contact with the fabric of Allen's hoodie, the boy violently jerked away and nearly fell out of his chair. Lavi, in turn, snatched his hand back to his chest.

The two sat in relative quiet as Mr. Yeegar explained several things to the class. Lavi finally broke it.

"Sorry," the redhead mumbled. "I… just wanted to know what was happening."

Lavi wasn't expecting any sort of response and he was fine with that. He didn't want another crazy reaction—

"The Odyssey," Lavi looked up to see that Allen's mouth was moving and it took the junior a second to realize that the boy was talking. "We're talking about book one of The Odyssey."

Lavi blinked. He only half computed the words because he had picked up on something else about Allen's voice. Before he could stop himself, the redhead blurted out, "Oh my god, you're totally British."

Lavi thought that he saw the thin line of a mouth quirk up for a moment but it happened so quickly that the junior thought he might have imagined it.

From there on out, the two students simply listened to Mr. Yeegar talk about the portion of the book that the class had read. Whenever Lavi got lost, he would shoot Allen a glance and the smaller teen would point to the part of the paper that the class was currently talking about. Lavi would then send Allen a small smile, but these ones were actually sincere. It was a good system.

Lavi was surprised when he heard the bell ring and glanced at the clock. Second period was already over? Lavi couldn't remember any of his English classes passing so quickly before. Huh, that was weird. Well, he sure wasn't complaining.

The redhead stood up and gathered his supplies before he glanced at Allen. The boy was placing the packet into his backpack neatly.

"Hey," Lavi said, successfully grabbing Allen's attention, "thank you. Really, you helped me a bunch."

The two stayed silent for another moment before Lavi saw Allen's lips form into a small smile and heard a perfect British accent reply, "you're welcome."

Lavi's smile grew and he stuck out his hand after Allen had stood up. "I'm Lavi."

Allen regarded the hand for a moment before he stuck out his own and grasped Lavi's. "Allen, Allen Walker."

"Well then, Mr. Allen Walker," Lavi's voice took on a playful tone and he imitated a British accent, "I am quite grateful for the extreme pleasure that I have received by meeting you." The junior bowed to the Brit.

Allen let out a small chuckle at the redhead's antics and Lavi felt pride fill his chest. He had gotten the weird little emo kid to open up into someone who wasn't weird or emo at all. Allen seemed like good company.

"Mr. Bookman," Lavi straightened as Mr. Yeeger approached him, "I would like to discuss the material that was covered during your absence."

"Alright," Lavi nodded at his teacher, "d'you mind if I grab some lunch first? I'm starving."

"Go right on ahead," Mr. Yeegar smiled. "I don't mind waiting until you're ready."

Lavi sent the old man a thankful grin before he turned to Allen. Or, at least, he turned to where Allen had been standing. The boy was practically out the door.

"Hey, wait up!" Lavi ran the short distance across the classroom to catch up to Allen. "D'ya wanna grab lunch with me?"

Allen didn't move an inch and Lavi just knew that the boy was staring at him. After what felt like an eternity, Lavi got a response.

"Thanks, but I'm fine," Allen shifted his weight between his feet for a few seconds, "I'll see you around, then." With that, shorter student practically bolted away from him.

Lavi blinked at the empty space in front of him. Despite Allen's skittish behavior, Lavi really liked the Brit. Now if only he could figure out why Allen acted like that. If there was one thing that Lavi enjoyed — besides history — it was a good riddle.

The junior smiled to himself. English just got interesting.

* * *

**A/N: My first chapter of my first fanfic! I feel like this is a huge milestone for me... *basks in the glory of the moment* **

**So if you're wondering why Allen is in a junior English class, it's because he's really good at/loves English class (personal headcanon) and he took an English class over the summer so he's two years ahead of everyone. But just in English. He's pretty standard for everything else.**

**Oh, and I'm going off of American schooling system/standards. If you don't get it, that's cool. It's not super relevant to the plot. Another note: my school let's you take courses over the summer so that you can get ahead, so this school does too. XD**

**Okay! I want to thank you for reading my typo filled piece. Also, reviews are appreciated. I would love to hear your feedback so I can fix anything I screwed up too badly.**

**Once again, thank you for reading!**


	2. Thoughts

**A/N: Guess who wrote the second chapter~**

**First of all, I would like to thank everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed this story. Your support means a lot to me and I love the fact that people are reading this and taking the time to type out a review. Thank you all! *bows***

**Next thing, this is never happening again. I will never again update this quickly. The only reason I am is that I had 3/4 of this chapter written out when I posted the first one. Think of this as a late Thanksgiving present. Give your thanks to me (JK, JK).**

**... and yeah, that's all I have to really say. This chapter is more of a filler than anything else so try to enjoy it. Sorry, I hate fillers too but this one is kind of necessary.**

**Disclaimer: Cari-Chan does not own D. Gray-Man or any of its characters (though I wish I did). Cari-Chan makes no profit off of this story.**

**Warnings: Some swearing and self-depreciating thoughts.**

**Enjoy~**

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Allen hurriedly closed the door to the bathroom stall, placed his back against the cinderblock wall to his right, and slumped down until he was sitting on the ground.

What the hell had just happened? That Lavi guy had just talked to him. Not only that, but the redhead had invited Allen to eat lunch with him. Allen had hardly been at school for a week and he knew two things for certain: first of all, no one liked him. Any student that would even try to be friendly with him was immediately discouraged by his silence and if not that, then his or her own friends would steer them away. Secondly, the person that was trying to talk to Allen was Lavi Bookman. Even Allen knew that Lavi was the most popular student in the entire school. During his summer term English class, Allen had heard every single girl — even ones that were in a relationship — gossip and swoon over this Lavi Bookman.

Allen had never thought much of it, but he had heard the name enough times to have it embedded in his brain. That's why when a redhead with an eye patch came in and announced that his name was Lavi Bookman, Allen figured that he would be like all the other popular teens and harass him.

But Allen was wrong. Lavi had tried to talk to him. And even though Allen could see through the fake smiles and forced cheeriness, the junior didn't do anything that was rude or demeaning. Yes, Lavi had touched his left arm, but it wasn't like the redhead had known about it. And if he had, then it hadn't been an intentional method of bullying the white haired boy, that much Allen could tell.

And when Allen had finally responded to Lavi out of a smidgen of guilt, the redhead hadn't done anything other than say that Allen was British, which was a true fact and in no way offensive. So Allen had decided to lend a hand to the most popular kid in school and had received tons of grateful smiles for it.

When class had ended, Allen had assumed that everything was over. But no, Lavi Bookman had decided to engage in idle chitchat with the freak of the school. The redhead had reintroduced himself like Allen hadn't known about his major popularity and had then teased the Brit for his accent. But it wasn't mean. It was more of a friendly type of teasing than anything else. Then Lavi had invited him to lunch. And Allen had ran off because he had been, admittedly, terrified to pieces about the offer.

That led him to where he was now, curled up into a ball with his backpack digging into him from behind. Why would Lavi want to talk to him, let alone be around him longer than necessary? Even if the redhead had decided that Allen was halfway decent to talk to, he probably wouldn't risk his popularity for the sake of befriending the weirdest kid in school.

Oh. Allen blinked twice before his body relaxed. That was why. Lavi didn't know about Allen's little reputation. That was the only reason that Lavi had been nice, the only reason that the two had been friendly to each other, and the only reason Lavi asked Allen to eat lunch with him. The junior just didn't know. Then again, how could he? Allen was a freshman and had only moved into the neighborhood during late June. There was no way that Lavi would have an inkling as to who he was unless the redhead's friends had told him about Allen, which was doubtful.

Allen sighed to himself. He knew that it had been too good to be true. The only other plausible reason the most popular student would want to hang put with him would be if Lavi wanted to trick the Brit into some sort of embarrassing scenario where everyone would laugh at him. Fortunately, Allen had gotten uncannily good at telling whether some one was faking or being sincere, lying or telling the truth.

Well, now Lavi would probably find out that Allen was to be ridiculed and beaten, not to talk and laugh with. The junior wouldn't want to exchange friendly words with the Brit now. Allen only hoped that Lavi would remember who had helped him on his first day back and have some form or mercy during any future beatings.

Feeling better now that he knew what was going on now (and worse since he knew that the whole thing was over), Allen allowed himself to sit up on the bathroom floor and take his lunch out of his backpack. He always packed a ham sandwich, a bag of chips, and a bottle of water for lunch at school. A small lunch, yes, but later he would go and get some of Jeryy's mitarashi dango for dinner in the small café that was a block or two away from school. Just thinking about the man's cooking caused Allen's stomach to growl in apprehension. The Brit chuckled to himself. His stomach always had been a black hole.

Basking in the quiet around him, Allen inhaled his meager lunch and kept his mind focused on the near future and the promise of his favorite food.

.:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:.

Unknown to Allen, the same redhead that plagued his thoughts was thinking of the snow haired Brit.

Lavi took a bite out of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he had hastily made after the panda had woken him up. Allen was so weird! Not the bad kind of weird that the junior had originally thought, though. Allen was the awesome/interesting kind of weird. Lavi supposed he probably should have been more upset with the fact that Allen had pretty much fled when the redhead offered to get lunch together, but Lavi couldn't bring himself to feel any resentment towards the smaller teen.

Currently, Lavi was sitting in the school cafeteria with his friends. He had talked to Mr. Yeegar about the class and now had a few make up assignments to complete, but it was nothing that bad.

"Hey," Lavi looked up at Daisya as the brunet spoke, "I heard that you talked to the Cursed Clown."

"Who?" Lavi fixed his friend with a weird look. "I don't know any 'Cursed Clowns'…"

"What?" Daisya looked confused now, too. "The Cursed Clown, you know, the kid that's an evil demon spawn? The one that is always sulking and plotting death in the corners of the room? Rumor has it that he killed his own father."

Lavi nearly choked on his sandwich. "Dude, that's a _horrible_ thing to say about someone, even if they're a total asshole! Who the hell kills their dad?"

"Apparently this kid did," Daisya shrugged, "but don't worry. I'll point him out to you later so that you know what to look out for."

"Hm, thanks," Lavi hummed as he finished off the last of his lunch. This was his first time hearing about this Cursed Clown, but the junior wanted to avoid someone that people accused of killing their own kin. Yeah, he got pissed at Bookman all of the time, but Lavi would never dream of killing his grandfather.

This Cursed Clown must be one sick little fucker.

"So how as your first day back?" Lenalee asked Lavi. "Do you like your teachers so far?"

Lavi shrugged. "I got here in the middle of second period so I only met my English teacher. His name is Mr. Yeegar."

"What?" Daisya gave Lavi a weak glare, "Mr. Yeegar is probably one of the best teachers!"

Lavi smirked. "Well, then my hatred for the class he teaches balances out well, doesn't it? Although…"

"Although, what?" Lenalee leaned forward towards Lavi from the other side of the lunch table. "What happened?"

Lavi shrugged, a faint smile on his lips. "I didn't know what was going on, ya know? So I had to look off of another kid's notes. He seemed pretty shy, but he's really nice."

"Aw, that sounds precious," Lenalee sighed happily. "I want to meet him now. What's his name?"

"Allen," Lavi grinned as he added, "he's British too. His accent is perfect."

Lenalee squealed and Kanda tched at her. "I _really_ want to meet him now!"

Kanda rolled his eyes. "It sounds stupid to me. Who cares about some dumb accent?"

"Kanda, be nice!" Lenalee instantly switched from fangirl mode to scolding mode. Lavi and Daisya started to laugh at the sudden change in the Chinese girl.

Ah, Lavi enjoyed the time he spent with his friends. _Maybe,_ Lavi thought to himself, _maybe I can get Allen to laugh along with us, too._

Lavi cut off his laughter and shook his head slightly. Where the hell had that thought come from? Whatever, he kinda wanted to be Allen's friend anyway so it wasn't like he had thought anything that odd.

Lavi smiled to himself. He hoped that he could talk to Allen again today.

.:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:.

Much to the redhead's disappointment, he wasn't able to see the mysterious boy from his English class for the rest of the day. And even though Daisya stuck next to him for whole school day, the soccer player wasn't able to spot the Cursed Clown of Black Order High School. Lavi didn't mind the latter of the two, but the first part bugged him.

As soon as the bell rang announcing the end of school, Lavi sprang up from his seat and raced to the front office as fast as he could. He knocked over a few other students in the process but hey, he had to get there before Bookman arrived at school or there would be hell to pay.

"Reever!" Lavi yelled has he all but crashed into the secretary's desk.

The blonde snapped his head up and stared at Lavi with wide eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Can you look up a student's profile for me? I wanna look up someone in my English class." Lavi asked, the words tumbling out of his mouth so fast that they were almost incoherent.

"Why?"

"I'll explain later, but I need you to tell me before the panda gets here!"

Reever cast the junior an odd glance but nodded all the same. "Come back here and I'll show you."

Lavi grinned and darted around the long wooden desk so that he was next to Reever's computer. Ah, the advantages of being friend with the school's secretary.

"What student do you want to know about?" Reever asked.

"His named is Allen Walker," Lavi told him and the secretary started to type in the name.

A few moments later, Allen's student information was up on the screen.

"Let's see," Reever scrolled through the page, "he's a freshman and he took an English course over the summer." After a bit more scrolling and reading, the secretary added, "And it looks like his birthday is on Christmas."

"Wait, he's a freshman?" Lavi asked incredulously. How was Allen taking a junior level English class in ninth grade?

Reever nodded. "Like I said, he took an English course over the summer… maybe he was already a year ahead before that? I'm not sure. It doesn't say anything about it on his records."

Lavi read Allen's transcript over Reever's shoulder. There was hardly any information on the Brit since he was a freshman and the school year had just begun. It seemed that Allen's only advanced class was English (two years was a huge leap!) as all of the other classes were base level for ninth graders.

"His birthday is on Christmas?" Lavi questioned, causing Reever to scroll up to see it.

"Looks like it," the secretary confirmed.

"That's so cool!" Lavi grinned. "He must get twice the presents! That lucky bastard."

Reever smiled before he glanced at the clock. "Lavi, you should get going soon."

"What, why — _oh shit I'm fucking late!_"

Lavi probably ran fast enough to beat the world record and Reever didn't even bother to correct the junior for his foul language. No, Reever was too busy laughing to bother.

.:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:.

Allen's feet fell silently on the sidewalk as he made the trek to his house. He had already stopped at the Exorcist Café ("It's called that because we vanquish your hunger, sweetie!" Jeryy would always tell him) and picked up his mitarashi dango from the eccentric cook. Jeryy had always been nice to Allen, complimenting the freshman on his manners and his accent. The cook genuinely like Allen and Allen couldn't say that he didn't enjoy the attention.

That's why he was always extra careful around Jeryy. It the man knew what Allen really looked like, what he really was, Allen was sure that Jeryy would hate him.

Just like everyone else.

Oh well, no use to dwell on depressing thoughts. Something positive, something positive… he hadn't gotten beat up today. And he didn't need to use any of the extra supplies he had brought to school! Yes, there had been a heap of insults and snide comments, but as long as there was nothing physical, Allen was just fine.

When the Brit finally reached his house, he unlocked the front door and stepped inside, locking it as soon as the door was closed once again.

Allen then rushed to the kitchen and immediately dived into the delicious dango. The white haired boy moaned. Why was the Japanese dish so good?

Once he was halfway done, which meant that he had finished six servings of dango, something knocked into Allen's head.

"Oi, Tim," Allen wasn't quite fazed as his small golden pet bonked into his forehead before it landed in front of him, "how many times have I told you not to do that?"

In all honesty, Allen wasn't sure what Timcanpy was. The golden animal had a hard spherical body with a cross of the front of it along with two horns and four spikes for feet at the bottom. Throw in the wings, the long thin tail with a flame like design at the end, and the fact that Tim could eat almost anything… yeah, Allen really had no idea as to what type of animal his pet was.

It figures that Cross would have such a weird pet.

Speaking of the alcoholic, Allen wasn't quite sure when his guardian would be back, if ever. Cross had been drunk and murmuring incoherent things when he had taken a hammer and knocked Allen out with the weapon. By the time the snow haired boy had come to, Cross was long gone along with his possessions. The only thing of his that he left, of course, were the numerous bills.

Allen sat up a bit straighter, an annoyed aura surrounding him. It wasn't like he wanted Cross around. Oh god, no! The man was a womanizer, a druggie, an alcoholic, and gambled frequently even though he was terrible at it. Allen was so much better off without the bastard.

But that didn't mean that Allen liked the eerie silence of the house, either.

Timcanpy bit the Brit's hand, effectively dragging him back into the real world.

"Sorry, Tim," Allen smiled softly as he offered a stick of dango to his pet, "I merely zoned out for a moment."

Timcanpy seemed to find that to be an acceptable excuse because it started to feast on its meal, Allen completely forgotten.

Allen watched Tim ravish the food for a few more moments before sighed.

Whether it was Allen with Timcanpy or Cross, he would be alone. That's just how things were.

And he had accepted that fact long ago.

.:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:.

Lavi gritted his teeth as he read his physics textbook. He had, inevitably, not gotten to the old panda's car on time. Once Bookman had kicked Lavi in the head, the old man had driven them home. When they got inside, Lavi found out that he was grounded for the remainder of the week.

That was where Lavi was now, sulking/studying in his room because the punishment for being a minute or two late was way too unfair. However, the junior had to admit that it was worth it so that he knew just a little bit more about Allen.

He still couldn't believe that Allen was two years ahead of everyone in English. Lavi knew that he sure as hell wouldn't be pulling a stunt like that anytime soon. The redhead had come to the conclusion that Allen either adored English or that the Brit was just insanely good at it. Whichever it was, it didn't matter.

Lavi flipped to the next page of his textbook once he had finished the one that he was on. He continued to scan through the tiny print when a sudden thought struck him.

_Why am I so obsessed with a kid that I just met this morning?_

Lavi put the textbook down and squinted his eye, actually giving the idea some serious thought. Well, Lavi had always loved a good mystery and Allen was the perfect example of one. Hell, Lavi didn't even know what the freshman's face looked like. Anyone in their right mind would be curious, so it wasn't that weird that Lavi was a little hung up on the whole thing.

Nodding to himself, Lavi picked his textbook and continued reading, a certain freshman with a British accent stuck in his mind.

* * *

**A/N: Yup, crappy filler chapter is crappy. I tried to switch over POVs a bit more because the last chapter primarily revolved around Lavi.**

**Poor Allen-kun, I'm making him so depressed... but I still love him. *sighs* Am I keeping Allen in character? I honestly can't tell because I'm making him depressed. Oh well.**

**And if you couldn't tell, I'm trying to keep Timcanpy in his original form. At first I was gonna make him a cat but if I did that then he wouldn't be able to fly so then I made him a bird but then he wouldn't have teeth etc. etc.**

**So yup, thank you for reading once again! Reviews are appreciated. Happy (late) Thanksgiving!**


	3. Of Manga and Revelations

**A/N: The third chapter is up! I got writer's block about halfway through the chapter, but I worked it out.**

**First, thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed. It warms my heart to see that this story is doing so well. I love you guys!**

**Second, I was asked how the school day works. Okay, so there are 7 periods/blocks plus one more called 8th period that you get to pick (it's basically mandatory clubs that are built into the school day). On Day X, we have periods 1-4 and on Day Y, it's periods 5-8. Each period is 90 minutes. Throw in a 45 minute long lunch in the middle of the day and you've got yourself a full school day (about 7 or so hours). **

**Next one, I was asked if there will be a lemon. The answer is no. This fic is rated T and it will remain that way. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not going to write a lemon. Besides, I have never written any romantic scenes before (that includes kissing) and it would probably end up being really crappy.**

**So yeah, that's all that I have to say right now.**

**Disclaimer: Cari-Chan does not own D. Gray-Man or any of its characters (though I wish I did). Cari-Chan makes no profit off of this story.**

**Warnings: Some swearing and self-depreciating thoughts.**

**Read on!**

* * *

Bookman was in a state of shock.

When he had woken up this morning, he had expected several things. First, he would try to wake up Lavi by shaking his shoulder and being gentle. Bookman didn't know why he did this since it never worked but the old man supposed that it was just routine for him now.

Next, he would go downstairs to get make some coffee. After he finished one cup, Bookman would go upstairs and start to kick and yell at his grandson to get his lazy ass out of bed. That always got Lavi up.

Then Bookman would have to badger Lavi into getting dressed, force his grandson to brush his teeth, and make the redhead do anything else that he needed to do in order to get ready.

That didn't happen at all this morning.

Instead, when Bookman had gone to Lavi's room, the boy was dressed and ready to go. Then when they went downstairs, Lavi had confessed that he had already made Bookman's morning coffee for the two of them.

And then Lavi asked to go to school early.

Lavi Bookman had wanted to go to school. Early.

So Bookman had dumbly nodded, gotten in his car, and drove his grandson to school.

That led the old man to where he was now, sitting there as Lavi left the car and walked towards the school. Bookman simply sat there for a moment, trying to figure out what Lavi's motive might be. There was no way that the redhead would want to go to school on his own free will, especially before he had to. It was probably too much to hope for that Lavi had changed his school hating ways.

Bookman wasn't even sure he wanted to know what type of demon had possessed his grandson during the morning.

As soon as Lavi was inside of the school, he breathed out a sigh of relief. He had been worried that Bookman would be suspicious of the fact that he wanted to go to school early. The junior could tell that his grandfather was stunned and was thankful to whatever god had helped him for the fact that the old panda hadn't questioned him about it.

Lavi walked into the main office and quickly located Reever.

"Hey Reever," the redhead greeted the secretary.

"Lavi?" Reever looked up at the junior, confusion flooding his features. "What are you doing here so early? Classes don't start for another thirty minutes."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Lavi walked around the long wooden desk until he was standing next to Reever. "D'ya think that you can look up Allen again? I wanna see his schedule again."

"Why?" Reever asked. "Speaking of, you never did tell me why you wanted me to look up some random freshman."

Lavi chuckled. "That's true. He helped me out in English yesterday and he seemed really mysterious. But he's really nice. And British. So I guess I just wanted to see if I could find something out about him."

Reever narrowed his eyes at Lavi. "Isn't that stalking?"

"Wha—no way!" Lavi nearly screamed. "Dude, I'm just curious, that's all. I invited him to lunch and he ran away from me like I had the plague. Plus, he looks totally emo but when I started to talk to him, he was actually pretty cool. And he's British, so he has to be awesome. His accent is spot on."

Reever stared at Lavi for a solid five seconds before he shook his head. "Alright then. Why do you want his schedule?"

"I want to talk to him today," Lavi explained, "but I don't know anything about his other classes and I know that you have all of the information so I'm asking you."

Reever sighed and Lavi couldn't tell if the man has exasperated or amused. "Of course. I'll even print it off for you."

"Thanks Reever, you're the best!"

The secretary shook his head again but brought up Allen Walker's schedule and clicked the print button on the monitor. "I'm not going to give you his grades."

"Didn't think ya would and I don't want 'em," Lavi replied with a grin.

Reever sighed, rolled his chair over to the printer, and handed Lavi the newly printed schedule. "Here, have a blast."

"Reever, I owe you one. Big time," Lavi said, an absolutely serious look on his face as he accepted the still warm paper from the secretary.

Reever returned the serious look. "Just don't get detention. Too much paper work."

The two stared at each other before they burst into laughter at the same moment.

"Dammit," Lavi guffawed, "you're face! I thought ya had to go to the bathroom or something."

"I've never seen you look like that before," Reever chuckled. "So why is it that you're here so early?"

"So many questions!" Lavi groaned in overdramatic annoyance. "I wanted to get his schedule and see if I could beat him to his first class in the morning. That way I could talk to him today. Besides, I needed time to come and talk to you and I didn't know how busy you would be, being the secretary and all."

Reever nodded. "That at least makes sense. And you were right about me being busy. I have a lot of work to do since Komui is taking one of his never ending breaks again."

"Sucks to suck," Lavi snickered. "See ya around!"

Ignoring the call of "don't curse in school!" that was sent his way, Lavi left the main office and glanced at Allen's schedule. So the Brit's fifth period was biology, huh? Lavi had hated biology. It wasn't like the class was particularly bad or anything, it was just that there was so much work. A ridiculous amount of it to be exact.

After looking at the classroom number, Lavi walked through the hallways towards his destination, nodding or smiling at the occasional student that he passed. For the most part though, he was focusing on where the classroom was.

It took the junior a good five minutes of searching (which was equivalent to a lifetime for Lavi), but he was finally able to locate Allen's class. A quick peek inside of the room revealed that there were no other students inside, much to Lavi's disappointment. Oh well, nothing in life was ever supposed to be easy.

Lavi stood near the classroom, trying to figure out where he could wait for Allen. There was no way that the junior could wait inside of a freshman biology class if he didn't want any flap for it. He would look really weird if he sat right next to the door and it would draw too much attention. So what options did that leave him with?

One hasty survey later, Lavi almost face palmed. The library. Of course. The room was practically right across the hallway and — if Lavi sat just right — he would the perfect of all students that went in and out of the room.

"You're so smart Bookman," Lavi muttered to himself as he began to make his way towards the library, "how do you do it?"

Feeling rather smug, the redhead sauntered into the room of books and took a seat at one of the nearby table. Realizing that it would look suspicious if he sat there and watched the classroom from afar, Lavi stood up and went to go find a history book that he could check out.

The junior was in the middle of browsing though the shelf of books when he noticed another student out of the corner of his eye. He looked up in mild curiosity at whoever had come into the library. Then he grinned.

.:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:.

Allen idly looked through the small manga section of the school's library. He had read every copy on the shelves (he was a fast reader and the amount of manga was depressingly tiny) and he had to admit that none of them were particularly good. Yes, Fruit Baskets was cute, but it didn't have enough substance for the freshman. He liked mangas that were more along the lines of Fullmetal Alchemist or Death Note. Which, of course, were the ones that the library didn't have. It was just some gore and psychological mind screws. What was so bad about them?

"I found you!"

Allen practically jumped ten feet into the air when he heard someone else yell in the normally silent library. Oh god, he hoped that whoever it was wasn't talking to him. That could only mean that the speaker had sought him out to harass him or beat him up or —

Oh god. There was a hand on his shoulder now. The words were definitely directed at him. What was he going to do, what was he going to do —?

"You sure are an elusive little guy, aren't ya?" Allen glanced over his shoulder and he felt his eyes widen as he recognized Lavi. What was he doing here? "I looked all over school for you after English class. Well, not _all _over but I kept my eye out for you and I'm pretty observant even though I got an eye patch on and — hey, I didn't notice this yesterday but you're kinda short, aren't you? Wait, you are Allen, right?"

Allen was really too busy being confused to feel hurt over the comment on his height. "What?"

"Thank god, I would have looked so weird if it wasn't you. And dude, don't make me repeat that, please," Lavi sighed, "I don't want to go back and have to remember all of the shit that just flew out of my mouth. Wait, that's not right. I always get the gist or the idea of what I said, ya know? But I won't be able to say it again word for word. That's just a pain in the ass."

Allen just stared.

"Um, so manga?" Lavi asked, obviously trying to start a conversation. "That's what this is called, right?"

"Yeah," Allen nodded, scrambling for an idea of what his next plan of action should be.

"You like reading it?" Lavi probed.

"No, I read it because I'm a masochist," Allen set the sarcastic comment slip out before he could filter it through his mind first. His brain was too busy trying to process why the hell Lavi was talking to him right now.

Allen heard the redhead laugh. "Oh man, I love people with a good sense of humor. That was hilarious. So are there any good ones here?"

Allen hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out if he should humor Lavi. The redhead didn't seem to be acting and he didn't appear to have any ulterior motive for talking to him.

Deciding to take a leap of faith, Allen shook his head. "No. The ones here aren't some of the better ones that I've read. They're all a little too shoujo for my tastes."

"Shoujo?" Lavi tilted his head, "what does shoujo mean?"

"Hm, how to explain it…" Allen pondered for a moment. "Shoujo means that the manga is directed for a female audience rather than a male one."

Lavi sent the freshman a baffled look. "Come again?"

Allen sighed. "It means that the manga is girly."

"Dude, that made so much more sense than whatever nonsense that you spewed out before," Lavi said.

"Please excuse me for using big boy words that you can't understand," Allen deadpanned.

"What? No! You aren't allowed to use your brilliant command of sarcasm against me!" Lavi exclaimed, placing his hands over his heart. "You have wounded me, good sir."

Allen snorted. "Some how I doubt that."

"You better!" Lavi mock screeched, "My heart is irreversibly damaged because of ya!"

To this, Allen actually laughed. "This is fun and all, but is there a reason that you came over here?" It was true; Allen enjoyed the small banter between the two of them. However, he was still slightly suspicious.

"Yup!" Lavi chirped and Allen raised an eyebrow. "I looked for you yesterday and I couldn't find you _anywhere_."

"… why?" Allen wasn't entirely certain that he even wanted an answer.

"I wanted to talk to you, duh," Lavi rolled his eyes and spoke in a tone as if he was answering the most obvious question in the world. "You seem like a pretty cool guy and I was totally right."

"What?" Okay, Allen was just dumbfounded by this point.

"You," Lavi pointed a finger at Allen, "you're a cool guy —"

"It's not polite to point —"

"— and by that," Lavi ignored the Brit's statement, "I mean that you're pretty nice, you helped me out in English, and you're sarcasm is spot on. Oh, you're British, too."

"What does being English have to do with anything?" Allen asked.

"You mean British."

"I hail from England. Therefor I am English."

"British, English. They're the same thing if you ask me. The only difference is that one of 'em is a school subject."

Allen glared at Lavi, even though he knew that the junior wouldn't be able to see it. "What does being _English_ have to do with anything?" The freshman repeated his earlier question.

"Dude, _British_ people are awesome," Lavi smiled and crossed his arms. "True fact."

"… is there any logical part in that hollow space inside of your head where you claim to have a brain?" Allen narrowed his eyes in feigned curiosity and titled his head up to look up at the fiery red mess on top of the Lavi's head that the junior probably called hair.

"So mean!" Lavi sighed, but he said it with a smile. "Speaking of mean…"

"What is it?" Allen tilted his when Lavi didn't continue.

"Have you heard of someone at the school called the Cursed Clown?"

Allen felt his blood run cold simply at the mention of dreaded name that had been inflicted upon him.

"You probably haven't since you're a freshman and all," Lavi continued, either ignoring or unaware of Allen's rigid posture, "but I've heard some pretty bad things about the guy."

The Brit's stomach dropped to the floor. Was this some kind of cruel joke on Lavi's part? Had the redhead wanted to find him simply so that he could insult the Brit to his face?

"Like, he's a demon spawn, that he's always planning out other people's deaths— "

Allen felt like someone had kneed him in the gut.

"— and get this! People are saying that he murdered his dad."

That one was the knife to the heart that practically killed Allen.

"Isn't that so — wait, Allen? Hey!"

Allen didn't hear anything after that, seeing as he had sprinted from the library while trying to fight off the tears that threatened to spill over.

.:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:.

Lavi was silent during lunch that day, trying to figure out what the hell he had done wrong to Allen this morning inside of the library. Things had been going just fine. Sure, the conversation had started off a little awkwardly, but the playful banter between the two of them had definitely been fun. As soon as Lavi had brought up the Cursed Clown, though, Allen had bolted. But why?

Lavi mulled that thought over since he left the library. It wasn't like he could ask Allen. Yeah, Lavi had his schedule and he knew where the freshman would be, but he wasn't cruel enough to prompt Allen about something that made him run off.

So what was about the Cursed Clown that set Allen off?

Maybe Allen was a friend of the Cursed Clown? Lavi immediately dismissed the thought. Allen was way too nice to be around someone who had apparently killed their own parent. Lavi couldn't even imagine Allen holding a weapon. Well, he could, considering Allen's attire, but still. Besides, it was hardly the second week of the school year. Allen wouldn't have had time to even form a strong bond with the Cursed Clown.

Could it be that Allen had some sort of experience that involved the Cursed Clown? That option seemed to be the most likely one. If the Cursed Clown had hurt Allen during the first week of school, that could not only explain why he had fled at the mention of it, but it could also be the reason that Allen was so reserved and wore the clothes that hid everything except the tip of his chin. As the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind.

Regardless of the reason, Lavi resolved to apologize as soon as he saw Allen again. He had obviously caused the boy quite a bit of distress and he didn't want that to hurt the possible friendship between the two of them.

"Lavi?" The redhead looked up to see Lenalee. "Are you alright?" The pigtailed girl inquired.

"Yeah, why?" Lavi asked.

"You haven't said a word for all of lunch," Daisya answered for Lenalee.

"Why are you asking him about it?" Kanda growled out. "The idiot finally shuts up because of some damn miracle and you want to ask him why? Just accept the blessing and be thankful for it."

"Ah, c'mon Yu," Lavi grinned mischeviously when he saw Kanda's jaw tense, "you know that ya love me."

Kanda sent a fearsome glare at Lavi. "Shut up or you'll be missing both of your eyes in a second."

Despite the smile that the junior sent to his self-proclaimed friend, he didn't breath another word. He usually ignored those warnings, but he really wasn't in the mood to tease the Japanese student. Besides, Kanda looked especially pissed off today.

"Hey!" Daisya yelled, suddenly standing up from his seat at the lunch table. "Lavi, there he is! That's the Cursed Clown!"

Lavi, along with every single person in the cafeteria, turned to follow Daisya's line of sight. Lavi had been expecting a few things. Maybe a tall, bulky male senior that had transferred after being expelled from his last school. He had been thinking leather jackets, spikes, combat boots, chains, piercings, ripped jean, the works. Instead, he got a scrawny boy in a huge hoodie.

Lavi's eye widened. As other students began to hurl insults at Allen, Lavi felt all the puzzle pieces click into place and his head hit the table with a thunk.

_Well, Bookman, you really fucked up this one, didn't you?_

* * *

**A/N: Oh, Lavi, you oblivious jerk. You make so much angst for Allen-kun.**

**Yup, Lavi knows who the Cursed Clown is. Now he needs to get out of the hole that he dug himself into.**

**Yeah, I made Allen like manga. I think that he would. And no offense to Fruit Baskets, but there are so many better mangas and animes out there. Like D. Gray-Man.**

**On a completely unrelated note, does anyone know the song Welcome To The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance? Is it just me, or does Allen fit that song really well? I think it's a perfect match~**

**Well, I hoped that you liked this chapter. Please fav/follow and review!**


	4. Angst and Ideas

**A/N: The fourth chapter is up! I had so much trouble writing this chapter that it wasn't even funny.**

**I know that this update is a it later than usual but I have been really busy lately with school (which will be the death of me) and getting ready for Christmas. Also, my updates will take a bit longer since my free time is going to be nonexistent for the next month or so. Just a warning in case you wonder when I'm going to add the next chapter.**

**Now that I've cleared that up, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed. The feedback that you guys give is always welcome, whether it be praise or flames ****— I mean** constructive criticism. To those who follow and favorite, I give you guys a huge than you. This story is doing well and it makes my day to know that people actually like reading it.

**Crappy chapter title is crappy. I ran out of ideas.**

**A note about the chapter: this is not my best work so bear with my here. It's kind of repetitive and a bit boring (in my opinion) but the next chapter will make up for it... probably.**

**And that's about it. Thanks for reading my note!**

**Disclaimer: Cari-Chan does not own D. Gray-Man or any of its characters (though I wish I did). Cari-Chan makes no profit off of this story.**

**Warnings: Some swearing and self-depreciating thoughts.**

**Merry (late) Christmas and enjoy reading this chapter!**

* * *

Allen was currently hugging his knees to his chest and trying to make himself as small as possible. The entire ordeal in the cafeteria had been… less than desirable. No one had done anything too bad, just the regular insults and being tripped occasionally. Still, there were plenty of the disgusted glares.

The freshman had simply gone into the cafeteria to discreetly buy some lunch since he had forgotten to pack his. The plan had been to stealthily go up to the lunch counter, pay for the food, and then get the hell out of there before anyone noticed.

That, of course, did not happen.

Rather, someone had called him to the attention of every single student in the room. And then the mauling had begun.

_"What the hell is that freak doing here?"_

_"He probably wants to bathe in our blood!"_

_"What's stopping him from killing us? Certainly not his morals."_

_"Don't let him touch you! He's cursed."_

_"Hey, weirdo, do us a favor and go back to hell. Satan will take you in with open arms, I'm sure."_

Allen's body tensed as each comment that he had heard. He hadn't done anything wrong yet! Couldn't he go one day without being harassed by his peers?

Ah, he supposed it would be too much to ask for anyway.

The freshman sighed and untangled his limbs. What good would eating himself up do? He stretched his arms and legs as far as the confines of the bathroom stall would let him and leaned his head back against the wall. He wasn't worried about getting his hair dirty since the hood acted as the perfect barrier against whatever crap was on the bathroom wall. In here, he could pretend that the words didn't hurt him and that punches didn't bother him.

But the punches did bother him. The bruises on him were proof of that.

And the words did hurt him. Each one had its own way of embedding pain in his heart.

Allen forced himself to relax. He needed to calm down or he was going to faint from stress or have a nervous breakdown. He couldn't change the way others viewed him, just the way that he dealt with the pain that they inflicted upon him.

Oh well, at least he had time now to escape them. It wasn't like he had to leave the safety of the bathroom and no one was really going to come inside. A quick glance at his cell phone revealed exactly what he had thought; classes had started a good ten minutes ago so no one would be wandering the halls without a valid reason, let alone go into the bathroom. Besides, teachers always ranted when students asked to use the bathroom after lunch ended.

Feeling secure in the knowledge that no one would barge in on him, Allen straightened up so that he wasn't leaning onto the wall and removed the hood. He never did this during the school day unless he was certain that he was alone. Having the hoodie itself come off was never going to happen when he wasn't at home, though. Allen, under no circumstances, wanted anyone to see his arm.

The Brit threaded his right hand through his hair and closed his eyes. The only sounds he could make out right now were the hum of the air conditioning and his own breathing pattern.

He was alone. And although being alone sucked, Allen would take it over the bullying any and everyday.

.:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:.

Lavi Bookman, for lack of better words, felt like a complete asshole.

And not just any asshole, mind you. No, he felt like the type of asshole that said a whole lot of really rude shit right to someone's face and didn't apologize for it. Because that's what he had done. He had said a bunch of shit about the Cursed Clown to Allen. And Allen was the Cursed Clown. So he had brutally insulted Allen. And Lavi hadn't said one word to the freshman after the little event in the cafeteria.

All in all, Lavi felt downright rotten about himself at the moment. Not even history, his favorite subject, would have been able to make him feel better at the moment.

The school bell rang, signifying the end of the school day. All of the students in the classroom stood up and made their way to the hallways. Lavi forced himself onto his feet and trudged after them, completely caught up in the fog of misery that he was surrounded in.

After Daisya had called out Allen and the freshman had fled to god knows where, Lavi had just sat there, his head on the table, shoulders slumped, and a million thoughts racing through his mind. Lenalee and Daisya had questioned him, but Lavi had remained unresponsive and the two had eventually given up.

Lavi continued to walk through the overcrowded hallway and bumped through the sea of students towards the front of the school. He felt lifeless as he walked to Bookman's car. Not even the cute girls that gave him flirtatious smiles could lift the redhead out of his mood. And that was a problem because Lavi always felt better when girls started to flirt with him; it was a surefire way to get him to lighten up.

Lavi stood outside in front of the school and waited for Bookman's car to appear. The junior squinted his eye against the bright sky. The weather seemed too nice for what had happened earlier in the day. Then again, the forecast had called for a relatively warm, sunny week. Why would the weather suddenly take a turn for the worse just because some freshman was being bullied?

Lavi sighed. He knew that he shouldn't feel so bad about what had happened to Allen. He had just met the kid! There was no reason for Lavi to care about him. But all the same, Lavi had said some pretty offensive things. Even if he would occasionally insult someone behind their back, he would never say such horrible things to their face. Besides, Allen was really nice. Yeah, he had been a little cold at first, but he freshman was skittish for a good reason. He probably thought that Lavi was another bastard who wanted to hassle him.

… that thought electively plummeted Lavi's mood into the seventh layer of hell.

"Oi, Lavi!"

The redhead looked up to see that Bookman was glaring at him through the open passenger window. Lavi took this as his cue and trudged towards the car.

"I called you five times!" Bookman fumed at his grandson. "You could at least answer!"

"Sorry," Lavi mumbled as he flopped into the passenger seat.

Bookman's anger dissipated and he glanced at Lavi with concern. Lavi _never_ apologized. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Lavi all but sighed. He wasn't making eye contact. Rather, he seemed to have his sight trained outside of the window. "I'm just a little out of it right now."

Bookman stared for another second before he decided to drop it. If Lavi didn't want to talk about something, the Bookman wasn't going to force it out of him. Not yet, at least. If things took a turn for the worse then the old man would certainly interfere.

"Alright then," Bookman said as he drove the car away from school.

.:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:.

Allen flipped through the channels of his television as he tried to find a decent program. After another ten minutes of not finding anything of interest, the freshman simply gave up and turned the television off. He could always watch anime on his computer later.

But first, he needed to make a call.

Allen located his cell phone and dialed in the school's number. He wasn't sure how or why he knew the number but he didn't really care either way; it saved him the trouble of searching the Internet in order to find it.

Someone picked up after three rings. "Hello, this is Black Order High School. What can I do for you?"

"Hello, this is Allen Walker," the Brit said, "I would like to call in about my absence for the second half of the day. You see, I have a bit of a stomach bug and I went to my house when it started to act up."

Allen nearly cringed at how smoothly he had been able to lie.

"Ah, of course," the man on the other end of the phone line said, "I can fix that for you. Did your parents sign you out?"

The snowcapped freshman had to force a smile onto his face and a cheery tone in his voice. "No. I live a short distance away from school so I walked home. I confess it probably wasn't the smartest idea but I couldn't bring myself to bother them."

Bother them? What a scam. Allen's didn't even know who his parents were. They could have been dead for all he knew.

The man chuckled. "I wish there were more students like you, not relying on their folks for everything."

At this Allen's smile turned into genuine one. It was rare that he was complimented, even if it was under false pretenses. Besides, it was half true. He didn't rely on his non-existent family for anything. "Thank you."

"No problem. Is that all?"

"Yes, thank you again."

"Like I said, no problem. Have a nice day."

"You too," Allen pulled the phone away from his ear and clicked the button to hang up. That went better than he thought it would have. Maybe his terrible fortune had decided to cut him a break. It would definitely be back, though.

Allen sighed. At least he didn't have any homework to do, seeing as he had finished it during his time in the bathroom. That left him with woefully few things for him to do. He could watch anime on his computer, play with Timcanpy until he got bored, eat, or try to do something moderately productive.

It took a few moments of mental debating before Allen decided that he should probably do some exercise. He hadn't done anything to keep himself fit in a while and now would be the time to do it.

Allen discarded his enormous hoodie and gloves. After a second more of contemplation, he took his shirt off, too. He had been extremely hot for most of the day so it felt nice when the cool air hit his chest.

Once everything was folded in a neat pile (sometimes he could be a little OCD), Allen dropped down onto his hands and feet and began to do push-ups. Allen knew that he was pretty scrawny and that he was on the short side, but he also knew that he could do push-ups like a pro. He could get to about sixty or so before he started to feel tired and usually got somewhere near one hundred. His own personal high score was exactly one hundred and twenty-six push-ups. He had been sore beyond belief the morning afterwards, but it was well worth it for the satisfaction of knowing that he could do it. He always felt pride fill his chest when all of the other students dropped out before seventy. Of course, he never went higher than the average score; that would draw far too much attention.

Allen practically pressed his chest to the floor every time he went down before he straightened his arms back out. Timcanpy eventually came over and fluttered around his head, a sign of encouragement.

"Thanks Tim," Allen smiled, taking a quick break, "You're my number one fan."

Timcanpy bonked into Allen's shoulder. Allen had long ago recognized this as his pet's way of showing affection. It was almost unbelievable how well Timcanpy could understand English.

Allen continued his rep of push-ups until his arms buckled underneath him. He picked himself up and put his hands on top of his head, breathing hard. That was the only exercise he would do today but it had been a pretty good workout.

Timcanpy nudged Allen's hand once the teen had recovered a bit. At the snowcapped boy's curious glance, his golden pet began to gnaw gently on his hand.

"Oh, you're hungry," Allen smiled gently, "That makes two of us Tim."

Allen wasn't sure why he was so happy after the harassment at school, after his parents had been mentioned, and the fact that he was alone. Maybe it was because it was just another day in the life. Maybe it was because the man he talked to when he called in to report his absence was so nice and had complimented him. Maybe it was because Tim was being unusually sweet.

Whatever it was, Allen didn't care. He would take his small amount of happiness as a blessing and brace himself for tomorrow.

.:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:.

Meanwhile, Lavi was wallowing in his own guilt and misery. The more he thought about Allen the worse he felt. He needed to find a way to resolve what had happened in the library and in the cafeteria. Either that, or his feelings were going to eat him up for the rest of his high school career. And two years was way too long to feel like a son of a bitch.

The junior had sucked up his pride and was currently going over various ways that he could apologize to the freshman. Just a weak "I'm sorry" wouldn't mean a thing, so that was out of the picture. Of course, Lavi would still say that he was sorry, but he wouldn't just leave it at that.

What else could he do? He didn't even know anything about Allen! Hell, they weren't even friends. How should Lavi know what to do? Should he get Allen a gift? Yeah, he should. That seemed like a pretty good way to show that he felt bad, actions and words aside. Now what the present should be… that would be a little harder. What were some generic gifts? Maybe he could get Allen chocolates? No, that would make it look like he was confessing to the kid. Flowers presented a similar problem. Clothes? No, Allen probably wouldn't want clothes, seeing as he was trying to keep himself on the down low. Besides, what boy would want clothes as an apology gift? None that Lavi knew of. What about a pen? Lavi paused to smack his head hard against the wall. What the hell? Who the _fuck_ would want a _pen_ for an apology gift?

… shit. He wasn't getting anywhere with this.

Lavi sighed in frustration. He needed to get something so that he could apologize to Allen. Figuring out a gift was harder than he thought; no wonder Bookman always hassled him for being ungrateful whenever he said that the old man's presents were lame and stupid.

Wait. That was it. He should have realized it sooner.

"Gramps!" Lavi yelled as he raced out of his room and down the stairs. "Gramps! Gramps!"

Bookman had been looking over the newspaper and drinking a cup of tea when he heard his grandson call him rather loudly, making the old man look up. The redhead had bolted and skidded to hasty halt in front of him, causing Bookman to nearly drop his tea. "Lavi, what on earth—?"

"If you had screwed up," Lavi interrupted, slightly out of breath from running, "Really badly — like, to the point where you make someone else feel absolutely horrible about himself — what would you get them as a present so that you could make it up to them?"

Bookman blinked owlishly at Lavi, the gears in his head spinning and clicking. That was why Lavi had seemed miserable; the boy had probably insulted someone and now felt guilty about it.

Finally understanding the situation, Bookman rolled his eyes at Lavi. "First of all, you don't apologize with a gift."

Lavi looked stunned. "You don't?"

"No, you don't."

"Why?"

Bookman narrowed his eyes and fixed his gaze onto Lavi. "Just giving someone a meaningless object would hardly make up for being rudely insulted. It is a rather emotionally detached and passive way to apologize."

By this point of the conversation, Lavi realized that Bookman had a pretty good idea as to what was going on. "I wasn't just gonna hand him something and run off. I was gonna give a heartfelt apology and then give him something."

Bookman stared for a moment before he nodded. "That's good. What you say should be more important than the material gift."

"But I still need to get something to give him," Lavi smiled sheepishly, "Help me out?"

Bookman sighed. "You're hopeless."

"Yeah, I know."

"Just get him something that you think they would like," Bookman shrugged. "If they're worth apologizing to, they'll appreciate the thought at the very least."

Lavi opened his mouth to protest that he didn't know what Allen would possibly like but he shut it quickly. There was no need for Bookman to know the full extent of the complicated situation.

What did Allen like? Lavi was sure that he could figure out something. Allen probably liked English since he was two grade levels ahead but Lavi didn't know what type of books Allen read. Fantasy? Sci-fi? Mystery?

_C'mon Lavi, think._ The redhead's eyebrows furrowed and his eye narrowed in concentration. What type of book… damn, this was so hard. Why did he have to mention the Cursed Clown in the first place?

Wait, hold on. Lavi's eye widened and his mouth slowly morphed from a thin line into a radiant grin. That was it. How ironic it was that the event that started this whole mess would help him figure out how to patch it up.

"Well," Bookman dragged Lavi out of his inner musings, "It seems that you have a good idea."

"Nope, I don't have a good idea," Lavi's eye twinkled at his confused grandfather, "I got the best one."

* * *

**A/N: The ending killed me. Could you tell?**

**Ah, Lavi and Allen = Angst. I promise it will get better soon. Cross my heart and hope to die.**

**Okay, this is random, but I tried to find a song to match Lavi. I think that Demons by Imagine Dragons might work, with his 'demons' referring to his multiple personalities and/or Deak. Random, I know, but I think it may just fit in with our favorite redhead.**

**SPOILER ALERT: Lavi's gonna pull a huge stunt to get Allen to forgive him next chapter~! Guess how he's gonna do it and you might get a prize (or not. I don't know at this point XD).**

**Again, I apologize for the late update. Please review, follow, and favorite this story!**

**I hope that you all had a great Christmas!**

**EDIT: A huge thank you to my beta Sky Rider. You're awesome :3**


	5. Sprinting and Apologies

**A/N: And I have the fifth chapter up! Yay~!**

**I actually had a lot of fun writing this one. I hope that you have just as much fun reading it :3**

**Okay, a few people have commented on the fact that my last update took a while. Sorry about that, but you have remember that I have this thing called a life outside of writing fanfiction. I have to make presentations, write lab papers, do my math, and all of my other homework. This is a hobby, not my life. I will write when I have the chance to and I will update when I can. My updates will happen slower than the first three, but I'll try to keep it below a month.**

**Also, someone commented on how Allen is out of character. I know that he is. You have to remember that he's depressed and people don't act the same as they usually do when they are. Allen may/may not get better, but if he does, he'll start to act more cannon.**

**Now that I've said that, thank you to every one who followed, favorited, and reviewed the last chapter. A lot of you guys guessed and I have who got it correct at the bottom after you finish reading!**

**Disclaimer: Cari-Chan does not own D. Gray-Man, Death Note, The Odyssey or any of its characters (though I wish I did). Cari-Chan makes no profit off of this story.**

**Warnings: Some swearing and self-depreciating thoughts.**

**Read this chapter if you dare XD**

* * *

Lavi stared at the solid brick building in front of him and smiled. School wasn't something that the redhead usually looked forward to, but today probably wasn't going to be a usual day. In fact, if all went well, this day would be even better than it normally was.

And if all didn't end well… Lavi decided to cross that bridge when he came to it.

Settling the strap of his backpack firmly onto his shoulder, the one-eyed junior walked into school.

.:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:.

Allen had decided that he really needed a new place to hang around before school started.

The freshman normally stayed in the next to deserted library, sitting in one of the backrooms by the almanacs and encyclopedias; no one _ever _went into that section of the library, especially in the morning.

Of course, Allen would try to find some book in the library before other students started to come in. As a matter of fact, that was what he had been doing yesterday when Lavi had approached him.

Going back to his original point, he could no longer be seen in the library and he needed to find a new place to wait for the first bell to ring.

The bathroom was a huge no. Far too many people went through there in the mornings for it to be a decent hiding place. Besides, Allen was sure that the restrooms in the school hadn't been cleaned in at least year. He didn't really want spend more time in there than necessary.

The cafeteria was out of the question. The more popular kids (the ones that gave him the most trouble) had marked the lunchroom as their territory in the mornings. And Allen didn't want to be anywhere near the cafeteria after yesterday's experience there.

Allen supposed he could stay home and leave closer to the time that school started, but he dismissed the idea. Whenever he walked through the heavy double doors into the building, every single gaze turned to him. Coming early meant that there were fewer students to stare him down. Arriving late would cause just as much attention, since he would come into class while it was in session. Regardless, it was against Allen's character to arrive late.

That was why Allen had no idea what to do on the half an hour before school started.

The freshman was currently standing behind the school, trying to amuse himself with kicking pebbles across the pavement. Not many people came around back but it was going to get incredibly cold as the year progressed. Plus, he felt too exposed out in the open like this. He would much prefer a cozy alcove to standing against the grimy brick walls.

Allen sighed into the crisp autumn air as he kicked another pebble. The first bell would ring soon, so he wouldn't have to stay outside for much longer. Heaving one last sigh, Allen pushed himself off of the wall and headed inside.

.:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:.

Allen trudged out his history class only after every other student had left the room. Nothing too bad had happened, just the regular spitballs launched and nasty whispers cutting through the air. Yes, it wasn't the ideal situation, but it was better than what usually happened. Therefore, Allen took it all without a word.

Next up was English. A small smile formed on the snowcapped boy's face. English was his favorite class and Mr. Yeegar was really nice; it was the perfect combination and a wonderful break from his daily slump.

However, his smile soon fell when he thought about the class and, more specifically, Lavi Bookman. Allen knew that he could have easily avoided the redheaded junior on any day he desired to, but he was still nervous. He knew that people talked about him behind his back and said truly horrible things about him. Yet when someone confronted him directly and spewed every insult that they could… that was far worse. Far, far worse.

And who had been the one to do just that? Lavi Bookman. If Lavi didn't even have the common decency to keep his opinions to himself and mock him with his cheerful attitude, then Allen wanted to keep as much distance between them as possible.

The thought of skipping briefly fluttered through his mind. Allen immediately shot it down. He wasn't going to let some popular jerk keep him from going to his only haven from the world.

But the junior already had, if the churning in Allen's stomach was anything to go by.

When he spotted the doorway into the classroom, Allen ducked inside and glanced around. There weren't any other students inside of the class at the moment so Allen took his regular seat in the back corner of the room.

Another reason that English was Allen's saving grace was that the class mostly consisted of juniors. Since Allen was a freshman, not many of the upperclassmen knew of his existence and thus he was exempted from the usual harassment and torment.

_Let's see how long that lasts, _Allen dryly thought to himself, _only god knows what sort of things that Bookman will spew about me._

Allen's shoulder's slumped as his mind came up with various scenarios in which he would be humiliated.

Eventually, more and more students started to file in, filling up the room. No one sat next to Allen, which he was grateful for. It's not that he didn't like people… it was just that he preferred when he was left alone during school. It would have been awkward if someone took the desk next to him. The other students had seemed to sense the freshman's unease since day one and had steered clear of his little corner. No one even cast him a glance anymore.

Then he spotted an all too familiar crop fiery hair and felt his stomach drop to the floor.

Allen tried to make himself seem as small as possible, attempting to make himself invisible to his newest tormenter. He saw a single green orb scan the room and felt ice crawl down his spine as its gaze landed on him. And when Bookman _smiled _Allen knew he was in for it.

Bookman made his way to the back of the room, swung his backpack to the floor, and took a seat in the only desk adjacent to Allen. The freshman gave the junior a sidelong glance, steeling himself for what he was sure to come.

"Good morning class," Mr. Yeegar smiled warmly at his students, "Today we will be discussing Books II and III of The Odyssey, which you were assigned on Monday. Now, who wants to share their opinions about the suitors?"

Several students raised their hands and there was soon a discussion going on between the class. Every person spoke up and provided their input at one point. That is, almost everyone. Allen, per usual, stayed in the background. Sure, he had quite a few opinions about the literature, but he didn't feel like having every single gaze in the room locked onto him, judging him, disregarding him.

Melodramatic? Yes, but Allen's nerves were enough to keep him from not contributing.

The only other student that hadn't joined in on the discussion/debate was Bookman, which was not per usual. The junior had seemed far too talkative and opinionated the two short days that Allen had known him to not speak a word. Maybe Allen had misjudged how social Bookman was. Maybe Bookman had simply tried to talk to him so that he could insult Allen openly.

Satisfied with his deduction, Allen listened to his peers, keeping his thoughts to himself.

.:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:..:*~*:.

Lavi wrung his hands and tapped his foot, too hyped up on nervous energy not to fidget. He had read the parts of the book that he was supposed to and he had tons of ideas and comments. _Tons_ of them. Like, if the suitors had been there for twenty years and had never ceased feasting on Ithaka's "fatted sheep," how was there not a food shortage? Why were the suitors such assholes in the first place? After fifteen plus years, were they all seriously try to woo Penelope when the queen had said no time and time again?

Great, now he was getting off topic. Lavi gave himself a mental slap to the face. He needed to focus. How was he going to talk to Allen?

Originally, Lavi had decided to apologize before English started. However, there were way too many people in the room for him to feel comfortable pouring his heart out to Allen. Yeah, Lavi felt bad, but he still valued his reputation. It wasn't like he was obsessed with being popular or anything. It was just that if it was possible for him to easily avoid a blow to it, he would do it.

Now though, Lavi regretted it slightly. He had so much nervous energy that it wasn't even funny. He felt like he was on a sugar high and his impatient, ADHD nature wasn't helping. He wanted to run around the classroom, jump up and down, and scream all at the same time. Every single second dragged on forever. He had glanced at the clock after he was _certain_ class was almost over and nearly cried when he saw not even five minutes had gone by.

_Damn it all, _Lavi thought bitterly, _just damn it all to hell. _Anything _is better than this._

The redhead's eye shifted towards the person that was causing him stress. Allen just sat there, facing the front of the class but never really talking. He still wore that huge black hoodie that completely covered his upper body and face.

_Maybe he's poor,_ Lavi's eye widened as the idea struck him. _That could be why everyone started to make fun of him. I mean, he wears the same thing everyday so he must not have anything else to put on. No, that doesn't make sense. If was poor, he probably wouldn't be two years ahead in English. Summer school isn't exactly cheap. Besides, isn't it usually the rich kids that are smarter and the poor ones who don't give a shit about education? But seriously, does he actually wear something that awful everyday by his own choice? Maybe he really is crazy…_

Lavi immediately felt guilty for considering that Allen wasn't stable. The kid was bullied so of course he would be kinda cold and wary around other people at the school. And for what reason? Allen had been really nice! Hell, if Lavi had done what he did to Allen to any of his friends, he wouldn't have gotten off lightly. Kanda would try to slit his throat, Lenalee would knock him out with one her notorious kicks, Daisya would have pounded his face in with his soccer ball, and Bookman would have beat him silly.

Yeah, sure, Allen had ran off and seemed to be ignoring him for the most part, but Lavi felt like it was completely justified. He would have done the same if he had been in Allen's position.

The shrill sound of the bell brought Lavi back into reality. Mr. Yeegar was announcing the homework as students started to pack up and file out of the class, heading towards the lunchroom. Lavi sent a small prayer to whatever entity had sped up the time to the end of class.

When the room was nearly empty, Allen stood up and practically bolted for the door. Lavi blinked in surprise before he gathered his wits and called out.

"Hey, Allen!" The freshman turned his head back towards Lavi. The junior gave the friendliest smile he could muster "D'ya have minute? I wanna talk to you."

Allen stared. Then he ran.

"Hey, hold up!" Lavi scrambled to his feet, grabbed his backpack and gave chase to the smaller boy.

Lavi has assumed that Allen wasn't athletic since the small amount of skin that was visible on the freshman's chin was pale. Plus, Allen didn't have the build of an athlete (not that Lavi could really see his build with that hoodie on) and he sure as hell didn't act like it. The junior had thought he would easily catch up and calmly speak to the freshman after they caught their breath.

Oh, how wrong he was. Allen could run and he could run _fast._ Lavi found himself digging deep in order to shorten the distance between them and it didn't even work. In fact, Allen was getting farther away by the second. If the track team ever held tryouts, Lavi was sure that Allen would make the cut. Easily.

"Damn it, slow down!" Lavi gasped. It was getting harder to inhale precious oxygen. "I just wanna talk! Please!"

Allen didn't hear him or he chose to ignore the redhead's desperate plea. Either way, the freshman didn't slow down. Lavi knew that if this little game of chase didn't stop soon, he was going to collapse. He needed Allen to stop. _Now._

"Dammit!" Lavi felt the word slur together, shutting his eyes tightly at the pain in his chest and legs. "I just wanna say that I'm sorry!"

Lavi ran another five seconds before he slammed into something and went tumbling to the floor.

The "something" that he had hit was Allen, who had skidded to a stop at his words. Lavi collided with the smaller boy, both of them falling to the ground. Lavi managed to keep his head from colliding with the tiled floor, but just barely.

Once he had gathered his senses, Lavi found that he was on top of Allen, a hand on either side of the freshman's face and both of Allen's legs in between his. Lavi still couldn't see the freshman's eyes or face but he knew that Allen was just as shocked as he was.

"Ohmygod!" Lavi all but flung himself backwards, landing on his ass. "I am so sorry! I didn't think that you would stop at all! I feel so stupid, I couldn't have just kept my eyes open for ten more seconds—"

"It's fine, I suppose," Lavi stopped midsentence as he heard Allen's voice, "I… I didn't get hurt."

"Oh thank god!" Lavi sighed with relief. "Dude, I really didn't mean to do that."

"I can tell," Lavi swore he could detect a small note of playful sarcasm, "Now what do you want?"

Never mind, he must have just imagined it.

Lavi stood up and offered the freshman a hand. Allen simply regained his footing, not accepting Lavi's offer to help. They both stood facing each other for a few moments before Lavi heard Allen sigh irritably.

"What do you want?" Allen repeated his question, this time a bit harsher.

"Oh right!" Lavi smiled brightly before he swung his torso down so that it was parallel to the ground, bowing towards Allen. "I'm really, really, _really_ sorry about what I did in the library. I didn't know who the Cursed Clown was! I thought that you were two separate people! I mean, I knew you but I never thought that you would be the Cursed Clown; you're really nice! I was just trying to talk to you, ya know? I didn't mean to offend you or hurt your feelings and all that jazz. I would have never said that stuff — hell, I wouldn't have even believed it if I knew that people were talking about you! So—"

"Woah," Allen put his hands in a mock surrender position, despite the fact that Lavi couldn't see him, "Um, you can stop now. I get it."

Lavi tilted his head up until he could see Allen's shadowed face. "Really? I mean, I get it if you don't wanna forgive me right away…"

Allen gave a small, breathy laugh. "I feel like I should. You chased me around half of the school just to apologize."

"Yeah," Lavi chuckled sheepishly as he straightened himself back up, "Sorry about that. But it's partly you fault," the junior teased, "You ran away and I must say, you're a hella fast."

Lavi didn't see Allen roll his eyes, but he practically felt it. "I never asked you to give chase."

"You didn't have to," Lavi grinned. "Oh! Gimme a second." Lavi softly plopped his backpack down and rummaged through it as Allen watched with mild curiosity.

"Here it is!" Lavi exclaimed as he brought out the contents from his bag. "This a gift for you. I really do feel bad and I feel like a quick 'I'm sorry' won't cut it."

Lavi handed the gift to Allen and the freshman gingerly accepted it. Allen read the label. "'The complete set of Death Note'?"

"Yup!" Lavi chirped. "I don't know shit about manga so I asked one of the people at the bookstore and they said that this was a really good one."

"It is," Allen nodded, "I love the plot; the timing and execution is near perfect."

Lavi felt his face split to accustom the grin he was wearing. Allen liked it! He said that the plot was awesome and that it was perfect—

Wait a second.

"You've read it?" Lavi asked, his grin falling.

Allen nodded again. "I have. Several times actually." Noticing Lavi's lack of cheer, be cocked his head to one side. "What's wrong?"

"I bought you a book series," Lavi stated, "That you know like the back of your hand."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Lavi threw his head back and groaned. "What's the point of getting something that you've already read? I bet you even have all of the books inside of the set."

Allen's silence was answer enough.

"Look," Allen spoke up after a moment, "It doesn't matter that I've already read it. It's the thought that counts, right? You went out of your way to do something nice for me and I really appreciate it. Thank you."

Lavi felt a bit better knowing that Allen was content with his effort at the very least. But he still couldn't stop feeling that he had screwed up.

"Well since you've read it and all," Lavi tried his best to seem calm and nonchalant, "We could go to the bookstore and return it and you could get something else that you haven't read before."

Lavi could just tell that Allen looked skeptical. "You want us to go the bookstore together." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"In public."

"Um, that's kinda a given—"

"Where people will see you, one of the most popular kids in school, with me, the freak, to go shopping for manga."

"…" Lavi was sad to admit it, but Allen had a point. A huge one, actually. "We could go when no one's there?"

"It's a bookstore," Allen deadpanned, "Do you actually think that we can ask everyone to leave while we look for a book?"

"No…" Lavi sighed, "But, um, for what it's worth, I don't think that you're freak."

Allen snorted.

"Really!" Lavi smiled. "I mean, yeah, you're not 'normal' but being normal sucks. Who wants to be just like everyone else? You're interesting and I like you so what does it matter?"

Allen didn't speak for a moment. "You… you like me?"

Lavi blanched. "Dude, no! No homo, bro! You're cool and all but I don't swing that way. I like the ladies, not dudes."

"… that's not what I meant," Allen shuffled and stared at his feet, "Not many people at the school like me and I haven't even known you for a week yet."

Lavi shrugged. "So? I like you. And do you, by any chance, like me too?"

_Okay, now that didn't sound like a schoolgirl confession._ Lavi wanted to slap himself physically rather than mentally.

"We'll see, Bookman," Allen said, "We'll see."

"What do you mean we'll see?"

"I haven't quite made my mind up about you."

Lavi nodded. "Understandable. But, uh, do you think that you could?"

"… maybe."

"Well that's good enough for me!" Lavi cheered. "So—"

Lavi was, once again, cut off by the bell. Both students blinked.

"Lunch is already over?" Lavi whined. "I didn't even get to eat!"

"You poor thing," Allen drawled sarcastically, "How will you ever survive?"

Lavi stuck his tongue out playfully. "I don't need your sass. It's not my fault that I spent most of my time chasing you down!"

"Then whose is it?"

"Yours!"

"If we're going to play the blame game, so be it. Is it my fault that you crashed into me as well? And is it my fault that I ran in the first place?"

"… you suck."

"Thanks, I really try."

Neither said a word as they stared the other down. Then they started laughing.

"Damn, that was fun," Lavi guffawed, "We should do that again."

"Maybe," Allen chuckled, "For now, I need to get to class." The freshman gave one last, small smile before he began to walk off.

"Yeah, yeah. Have fun in Algebra," Lavi waved as he too went to his next classroom.

"Thanks, I'll try — wait, how did you know that I have Algebra?" Allen turned around only to find that Lavi was out of sight. He narrowed his eyes. He had never told Lavi his schedule at any point in time. How did the junior know that he had Algebra?

"Whatever," Allen sighed as he continued walking. It's not like schedules were top secret, but still…

Lavi, for his part, practically skipped to class, feeling like he was on cloud nine. Today had turned out well so far. However, he had learned one lesson.

He sucked with picking out presents.

* * *

**A/N: I think that I just wrote fluff, but I'm not sure.**

**I originally hadn't planned the whole "Lavi falls into Allen" thing but when I got hit with the idea, I just went with it.**

**So, the people who correctly (or got a component of it) guessed how Lavi would apologize are CsillaDream, The Bakura's Muffin Company, and greenwings33! Congratulations! I don't have any real prizes for you guys (gomen) but if you want, you can request a one-shot and I can try (try being the key word) to write it. Sadly, if it contains a ship that I don't like, I won't write it. I feel really strongly about shipping, sorry XD**

**That wraps up another chapter! Follows are my drink, favorites are my food, and reviews are my life force. Thank you all so much!**


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